I have been lurking and posting here sporadically for some time. I thought since I'm on the cusp of 100 posts, I'd probably better make it official and introduce myself properly.
I live in inland Southern California, about halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs. I grew up here, moved away after college for work for about a decade, made a pit stop in Florida, and ended up back in my hometown at the turn of the century.
In my late teens I hung out with the alternative music crowd and smoked clove cigarettes, and eventually was lured to the pipe by exposure at the tobacconists that I visited to buy the cloves. In my college years I also occasionally smoked RYO tobacco like Drum and Samsun; I also bought a couple of pipes and smoked them with a friend, but when I left town at 25, the pipe smoking ended. I never actually smoked much, and stopped using any tobacco altogether in my late 30s after I returned to California and my wife became pregnant with our first child.
Fast forward about 17 years, and I started getting interested in pipe tobacco again. I don't smoke very often (yet), but when I do, I really enjoy it. I mostly go for VaPers, OTCs like Granger or SWR, and various British tobaccos. I look forward to having more time to relax with a bowl of quality tobacco as I near retirement, which is still a few years off. I'm very happily married to an awesome woman, we have two great kids, and at 57, I am pretty content with my life.
I'm happy to join in the discussion here, and have found much value in reading this forum and learning from those with much more experience than do I. Thanks for everything!
I live in inland Southern California, about halfway between Los Angeles and Palm Springs. I grew up here, moved away after college for work for about a decade, made a pit stop in Florida, and ended up back in my hometown at the turn of the century.
In my late teens I hung out with the alternative music crowd and smoked clove cigarettes, and eventually was lured to the pipe by exposure at the tobacconists that I visited to buy the cloves. In my college years I also occasionally smoked RYO tobacco like Drum and Samsun; I also bought a couple of pipes and smoked them with a friend, but when I left town at 25, the pipe smoking ended. I never actually smoked much, and stopped using any tobacco altogether in my late 30s after I returned to California and my wife became pregnant with our first child.
Fast forward about 17 years, and I started getting interested in pipe tobacco again. I don't smoke very often (yet), but when I do, I really enjoy it. I mostly go for VaPers, OTCs like Granger or SWR, and various British tobaccos. I look forward to having more time to relax with a bowl of quality tobacco as I near retirement, which is still a few years off. I'm very happily married to an awesome woman, we have two great kids, and at 57, I am pretty content with my life.
I'm happy to join in the discussion here, and have found much value in reading this forum and learning from those with much more experience than do I. Thanks for everything!
